The U.S. Justice Department has stepped in to determine whether James Burke, a high-ranking Suffolk County police official, violated the civil rights of a suspect the officer is alleged to have punched. A man arrested on charges of breaking into an unmarked police vehicle assigned to Burke, chief of department, told his family that Burke hit him in a Fourth Precinct squad room. The incident that...

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The U.S. Justice Department has stepped in to determine whether James Burke, a high-ranking Suffolk County police official, violated the civil rights of a suspect the officer is alleged to have punched.

A man arrested on charges of breaking into an unmarked police vehicle assigned to Burke, chief of department, told his family that Burke hit him in a Fourth Precinct squad room.

The incident that sources told Newsday was under federal investigation was said to have occurred in December when Christopher Loeb was arrested on charges of breaking into Burke's vehicle and stealing the officer's gun belt and other items.

It's good that the feds are looking into the Suffolk allegations, but they ought to expand their investigation west, into Nassau County, where a police internal affairs report uncovered by Newsday last week detailed a horrendous and frightening abuse.

The report by the Internal Affairs division found that after a night of drinking, off-duty Officer Anthony DiLeonardo escalated a traffic dispute in Huntington Station and shot cabdriver Thomas Moroughan twice and broke his nose with blows from DiLeonardo's gun butt.

The report concluded that DiLeonardo committed several unlawful acts, including assault, criminal use of a firearm and driving while ability was impaired. DiLeonardo kept his job. No criminal charges have been filed in Suffolk County, where the incident occurred.

Are there other instances where officers are accused of wrongdoing? And have they, like DiLeonardo, never faced criminal charges?

Even more disturbing than the allegations, however, has been the response from both counties.